As many people have pointed out, our consumer society owes its very existence to its ability to fuel a sense of never being satisfied. . . . Caught up in lack, we feed the need but never feel truly satisfied because of course our substance of choice can't fill the lack. Consequently we continue to want more, more, more.
That's why the idea of cultivating "the gratitude attitude" is so popular among twelve-step programs. Addictions of all sorts come from a deep sense of deprivation, a feeling of lack that the user believes can be filled with a substance — alcohol, drugs, shopping, sex, food.
— M. J. Ryan, Giving Thanks